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Video Game Testing Is Playing While Earning updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:40 am EST

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No matter how big a gaming company is and how high their productivity rate is, video game production is left in the hands of two individuals: a game designer and the quality assurance representative or what is commonly called a video game tester.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here Resident Evil, WarCraft, and what name you, all have great video game testers involved in the process of game development. It's a billion dollar industry and most gaming companies invest well on quality assurance. Why? Well, for one thing, a bug on any actual game released to the public can cost millions on productivity when game dealers and sellers return them for quality control. Another thing is they need to know what game fits their targeted audience. A gaming company needs some raw feedback on the marketability aspect of any video game. This is not to say that a video game tester should have a marketing degree or a technical degree on game designing, which has just been recently offered by some state universities. Most of the things needed in a video game tester job are learned through experience. It won't require anyone to finish a game design or computer engineering course for him to detect a bug, which is a video game tester's primarily role. Out of experience, he must be able to suggest some tips for the game's playability and performance, particularly for it to be suitable for a certain age of gamers. A video game player who has achieved quite substantial experience in high-level gaming can deliver that. Anyone can't be a good video game player, however, I tell you. Some may have a lot of problems in hand and eye coordination. Some are not comfortable playing on any gaming console. On the gaming company's perspective, the amount at stake is huge. They need to shell out money for QA each time they are about to release a video game to the market. You can only imagine how great the contribution of video game tester is to the gaming company. This only means one thing for any video game tester aspirant. Video game testing is not everyday fun. It also means serious business.

A Good Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:36 am EST

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A good gaming company would know a serious applicant for a game testing position. Knowing the right terminology is a complete give-away that you want to have professional business in the company and that you're not just another video game master, trying your luck in another popular game.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here A video game testing job is called quality assurance representative or other times known as QA specialist. By the designation itself, it requires the technical know-how. It's true that a video game testing position can be a stepping stone to a game design or game development career. In this way, even if a technical degree is not necessary for anyone to become a video game tester, reaching another rung in that corporate gaming ladder would entail a degree in game design or any of its equivalents. If you have the heart for serious gaming, then it's highly probable that you'll make it as a video game tester. There are several ways for you to train yourself for that job. Anyway, being a video game tester would only require you to be at least older than 15. There are video game training tools that you can avail online. Some professional video game testers came up with packages for video game tester aspirants. It includes a step by step guide on how to go about being a video game tester. Other than that, the package contains contacts to different gaming companies that offer video game testing jobs. There are several types of games, but the video game tester's main role is to beta test all games before release, take note of bugs he encountered while playing, and send them back to the game designer who works for the same gaming company with him. It would be a lot easier for you to choose the game you're more interested in, whether that's a car racing game, RTS games like WarCraft, or a MMORPG. Avideo game tester must be comfortable playing on all kinds of gaming consoles as well. The gaming company would usually test whether the game runs for all kinds. That is just another thing that a video game tester should have: flexibility.

The Challenges of a Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:33 am EST

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Avideo game tester has the responsibility to check the quality of a new video game. He takes charge of defects, scripting errors, and bugs that hamper the game's performance. Documentation is also significant. He takes down all the necessary information for the developer, designer, or programmer to know which glitches he needs to work on. Ideally, the video game tester also has the initiative to analyze which part of the game should be augmented, whether that is playability, scalability, or performance. This information has great results in the marketing aspect of the game. Thus, not only is a video game tester needed for quality assurance, it also is critical in enhancing the marketability aspect of the game.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here One of the traits a video game tester needs to acquire is that of patience and a keen eye for detail. Playing for an extended number of hours is one thing, but he has to be knowledgeable which game level appears to be slower to load than the rest. Without this quick observation, the game could have ended up dysfunctional in that part. Patience, on the other hand, is applicable when he notices a certain glitch in a game. It's not practical to have it documented directly. There should be retesting done on that part to determine the specific problem for the corresponding person to troubleshoot it. Sometimes it would take a large part of the game to retake only to get back to that part where the glitch is found. After the troubleshoot, the video game tester needs to retest the game to ensure if the glitch has been resolved. Being a video game tester is a challenging job, indeed, but the best thing it can offer is you're getting paid for what you love to do. You also can have the greatest collection of video games without spending a dime. Gaming companies usually allow their video game testers to bring a copy of their tested games as take home. Lastly, it's also a critical part of a video game tester's responsibilities to determine every path and option a player can take in a game. This is to make sure that whichever way a gamer chooses to play, he won't be experiencing technical problems in it. For all that there is, being a video game tester is a good stepping stone to a career in game design or game development.

What It Takes to be a Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:32 am EST

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Being a video game tester requires innovation and tenacity, particularly regarding technical information. Although it does not require a professional degree, the job per se would be much manageable when the video game tester has considerable experience in as many games as possible. More often they will be tasked to play a game for long periods of time with utmost concentration for detail. They must also be innovative to test various pathway combinations in video games. Generally, a video game tester will ensure that all possible angles a game can continue are tested for bugs, defects, and other possible glitches.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here This is primary reason why video game testers have to be adept in communication. Since they are front liners in determining defects, they are tasked also to inform the corresponding individuals assigned for troubleshooting the particulars of the situation. That is why they are present from stage 1 of production to the launch. Discipline and organization are two principles that a video game tester must possess. For one, he should be disciplined enough to test the game and not merely play it. Testing requires analysis. A video game tester is not really required to give solutions, but there are instances when he will be asked for suggestions. This is also applicable since he will be asked questions on playability and the game's performance. There are times when the game is technically glitch-free but it's more appropriately played by adult gamers than its targeted audience. A video game tester has a critical role to play in video game production. He needs to be a master of his craft in any way possible because quality assurance of the video game rests on him. Gaming companies spend thousands fixing technical problems in a game the longer it took for the game to be developed. They would have to revert to all processes involved until that point where the glitch is discovered. Thus, a video game tester should not only be results-oriented but process-oriented too. He must be able to point out which part of the process is a bug lurking. Other than being a games master, a video game tester has to have a professional outlook in gaming since it is serious business.

The Truths about a Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:27 am EST

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The general consideration in hiring a video game tester is for him to be a qualified video games player. This means he should have experience in as many video games as possible, at all levels. It's for him to test all the possible combinations of pathways, making sure there are no bugs, defects, and errors in the entire game. Once bugs and other errors that may hamper the game's performance are found, a video game tester must be able to relay the information to any designer or programmer qualified to fix the bug. This is where communication plays a role. Any video game tester has a critical role to play that's why as early as stage 1 of a games development process, a video game tester is needed to ensure the designer or developer has every glitch addressed.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here Every video game tester has to exhibit high-level gaming abilities. It's for him to point out every minute detail of the game, at the same time testing to see if it works on all gaming consoles without any technical problem. Playing a video game entails a bit of technical knowledge on some gaming software, even on Microsoft Office products and operating systems too. This technical knowledge must translate to having a keen eye for details. More often, a video game tester has to play a specific game, level, and area of that level that needs to be tested for any technical problem. If a bug is found in a particular area, the video game tester has to be restarted up to that point in the game. Every video game tester must also have the ability to view things in a broader perspective. Sometimes a small detail happens to be the least of concerns. In a more general picture, it's the whole game itself that needs to be evaluated first if it suits a certain gaming niche or has appeal to a lucrative target market. Games production is a multimillion industry. To be part of its quality assurance department means you're entrusted to do something that will ensure a huge sum is not spent on production. The video game tester's role however is not only critical because it would take a huge amount to address a technical problem in the later stages of a game. It's critical since being part of a games industry business is a serious job.

On Becoming a Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:26 am EST

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Video game testing is a lucrative and challenging occupation. It's part of a critical department in video game production, which is quality assurance. From the first procedure to the prelaunch stage, video game testers work side by side with the game developers and designers, to make sure that technical glitches and code scripts are intact. Video game testers ensure that the game has addressed all the requirements of its targeted gaming market. Video game testers need no technical training from some experts or formal education from a qualified school to be able to do their tasks. The primary task a game tester has is doing a public beta test for new versions of popular video games or a newly launched one.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here The best way to make yourself ready for a career as a video game tester is to gain experience. It's easy to do when you have the full-blown interest to play video games. With an undying interest, it won't matter how much time you spend on playing video games. Video game testers too have broad knowledge on gaming consoles and operating systems. Game companies demand people who play and are knowledgeable on the equipment they need to use for playing and testing. The game and the console where you can play go together. You cannot separate one from the other. As a video game tester, you should be able to point out bugs, errors, and defects on the game that might result to a diminished product value. When a video game tester can analyze different aspects of the game, looking at low and high points from different perspectives, he becomes an important part of the gaming company that hired him. That is especially true when he can view a game at a customer's perspective. Video game testers too should have exemplary communicative abilities, particularly with technical matter. To figure out which aspect has the glitch is only one step. A game tester must be able to relay technical information to the corresponding person who can fix the bug or do necessary tweaking to the game layout. Video game testing is not all fun. It also is serious business.

Be a Game Master and Earn Big Bucks! updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:24 am EST

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I've had enough of it. They say it's hard out there. I would have wanted to stay in school but I'm not a dork. All I want to do is have fun while working. I've seen some of my buddies all swamped with work, eyes glued to monitors for hours, and scrounging for some leftover food for dinner. That sure is no fun for me.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here I thought there might be a better way to make it big, but I only know well of playing Fallout 3 and Fable II. Call it luck or whatnot, but I found a niche when I got to this site. Now I'm racking up big bucks without dressing up like some glorified apple picker or worse like any unshaven starving artist. I can stay up all night winning up battles and learning tricks of my own trade while gorging on my favorite pizza and a few beers. My, life can never be any better than this. This is heaven on earth. I'm telling you, guys, don't lose this chance. Grab any game now, be part of it, and rack up huge amounts!

This Is What a Game Tester Is updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:23 am EST

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The game industry defeated the film industry with its gross earnings. It has skyrocketed into a billion-dollar industry. This is good news for game designers, game developers, and game testers. It might not have crossed your mind what a game tester is. Most people in the gaming world believe that a game tester can be anybody whose hands and eyes are adept with gaming consoles of every kind and video games of all kinds and levels. Partly true, these video game testers are required to have high-level gaming abilities.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here That means they don't only know how to play the game, they should be able to play the game well, compared to an average video game player. The good thing about it is that you don't have to feel the guilt when you spend so much time playing those video games instead of going to the library. It's not to say that gaming should take the place of studying, especially since landing a job as a video game tester won't require a college degree. Anyone can start joining the multi-billion gaming industry even when you're still slightly over fifteen. When you have this position, it's more like you're in for a game designing career. This is so because as a video game tester, you work hand in hand with a video game designer. No designer can have the discerning mind to focus on some inconsistencies in the game flow. These obstructions when not corrected might just cause a deep cut on the company's resources. Customers would more likely return these games when bugs are found in them. That's why video game testers are tasked to detect these bugs, scripting errors, and other defects as early as possible so as not to hamper productivity and eventually sales. Video game testers who have marketing initiatives are quite indispensable to game companies. It's true that there are certain games that are only appealing to a certain type of gamers. It helps a lot when a video game tester has extensive experience and has a good network of gaming friends. In that way, he knows well enough the exact game for a specific type of gaming audience.

How 10 Came to Be My Favorite Number updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:18 am EST

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My favorite number is 10. It's the number of years it took me to finish high school. It's my shoe size, the number of girls I brought to my place since seventh grade, my fav hotel room number, but lately it turned its back against me. Ten is all that's left in my bank account. Yeah, it sucks that in almost ten years since the last time I laid my eyes on big mouth old hag Ms. Spinner, the greatest tyrant of my dear school life, that big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is still out there in the storm!                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here Oh well, I gotta do something real good. Meantime, I find refuge in Resident Evil 5 on my Xbox 360. Here I can face my ghastly-looking enemies and beat the hell out of them. Yeah, I'm invincible. I have all chances the world can offer to be an invincible hero. My only wish then was to make money out of it. That'll be a be-all and end-all to my woes. Hey, don't get me wrong. I struck lucky a few weeks after. That's why 10 remains to be my favorite number. Yes 10, my special 10, that's how many times my bank account doubled, from the day I started playing games at gametestingguru.com. But that's just freebie. The real thing is, I gotta play Chris Redfield as I wiped out enemy viruses (and not really getting sick) while racking up tens of thousands. So I'm telling you this smugly: Go play, be the game's master, and earn big bucks, with a big ego. So there is it, 10 is my favorite number.

The Real Video Game Tester updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:02 am EST

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Xbox, Playstation 1 and 2, GameCube, whatever name a video game has, there's corresponding work involved in its production. In every step of the way, a quality assurance representative is needed to monitor if there are any inconsistencies that hamper the video games flow. This QA specialist goes by another position designation: the popular video game tester or simply game tester. One thing that a knowledgeable video game tester has is sound judgment. He should be able to judge a good game from other trying hard copycats of popular best-selling video games.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here What helps you gain good judgment is experience and versatility. It's one thing to know fully a particular video game but it's a different story when you're starting on a video game testing job. You have to be familiar with many video games and various gaming consoles as well. A video game tester may not really be a technical video game guru, but he must be detail oriented. Every technical glitch in video game production must not escape his scrutinizing eyes. That is why a video game tester needs to prove that he plays a video game better than any other video game player. He can only do this when he knows high level gaming, not just following any amateurish game plan he knows from high school. This will prove useful to him too in many ways as a video game tester, being that his main task is to detect bugs, defects, errors and elevate the matter for issue resolution to the right department. He logs in all the important details of the bugs or errors and other programming problems in a database, for the right department to review and act on. It's convenient to think that a video game tester is instrumental in ensuring that a video game is highly enjoyable all throughout from start to finish, but it's not only that that makes a video game tester valuable to any gaming company. He should know what video game has great potential in the gaming market. When he plays a game, he takes into consideration its playability and performance, not just for what suits his taste but for majority of the gaming public

HOW TO BE A VIDEO GAME TESTER updated Thu Feb 12 2009 3:00 am EST

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Video game testers are indispensable in the gaming industry. Their insights and analyses matter in improving the quality of video games offered to the public. For perceptive gamers out there who are computer literate and who know exactly how to combine work and fun, working as video game testers may just be the right job for you. The job entails some degree of responsibility, but it can surely be financially rewarding and enjoyable, at the same time. For a video game tester to be able to provide valuable output in his work, he must know exactly what to look for while playing and testing the game. There are different types of game testing. Therefore, instructions given to him must be read carefully and understood completely so as to apply the right type of test and not miss out on any glitch in the program that has to be addressed. The video game tester must be cooperative with the company developer. He must accurately take note of the areas in the game that need some enhancement or correction.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here Playing the same game over and over until some level of accuracy in the test observations is achieved, while at the same time reviewing and editing the notes taken, may just be the perfect technique for a job well-done. It's important that the tester should be able to communicate and explain his ideas clearly. Thus, he must also have a good command of the English language so he can write his output in complete and comprehensible sentences. Overtime, the video game tester must not only provide observations but also address glitches in the computer game software. He must be readily able to suggest improvements and corrections. The feedback and suggestions must be clearly written and submitted to the game company developer on time. The more efficient a video game tester is in providing outputs from the test phase, the more offers he will receive in analyzing other games from the same developer. He will gain exposure not only to software programming, but also to the gaming business. Not to mention the lucrative income he gets for working hard as a video game tester. More importantly, the video game tester must be creative enough to picture out a playful, logical and functional game which, when translated into the language of software programming, will be the delight of young and adult gamers, alike.

The Video Game Tester’s Job updated Thu Feb 12 2009 2:55 am EST

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What makes a video game tester stand out from a crowd of video game players. It's not the job title that spells out the difference. Among other reasons, a video game tester earned credibility for his high-level gaming ability and an accurate judgment for some games that made it well in the market.                                          Check Out More Of Our Guidelines and Advice Here These are not earned overnight. It takes years for a video game player to mature as a games tester, no matter how adept he is in playing as many video games as he can. It's more likely that a video game tester will learn from experience. He may be more likely to earn a specialization in the field. Remember that as a video game tester, he needs to keep on playing a certain part of a game level. It's the only way to ensure that there are no bugs and errors in scripting that may hamper the game flow, which is the main role of a video game tester. It's said that a video game tester will learn his tasks with speed in a matter of three years. That's the time when old-age wisdom sets in. During this time, a video game tester can start getting acquainted with some game design aspects like environment design, character design, and interaction design, among others. It's not unknown to any video game tester that his position may be the best stepping stone to pursuing a career in game design or game development. Communication is also a vital aspect to consider in being a video game tester. It's significant that he would be able to relay technical information to the designer or developer involved in the game development process. The process goes in this manner. A video game tester is given the task to play a new video game as beta test before it's released to the market. When the game tester encounters any bug on any level of the game, he records the information on a database and waits for feedback. Once done, he needs to go back to the same level of the game and see to it that the bug has now been resolved. Hence, one trait that a video game tester needs to have is patience and keen eye for detail. All these will make him stand out from an ordinary video game player.